Lasday: Turn Your Corporate Brand Inside Out

Turn Your Corporate Brand Inside Out

By Lou Lasday

The hottest current marketing topic in board rooms at community banks, regional law firms, commercial real estate managements and other professional service organizations is how to rally their staff behind the corporate branding message.

The effort, in order to succeed if not merely exist, must start from within. It must be turned from inside to out, to have any real meaning.

According to Bob Lamons, author of the ground-breaking text, "The Case For B2B Branding," published by The American Marketing Association, brand experts have discovered that if employees don't fully understand and totally embrace their employers' brand message, it's doubtful anyone else will either. And more than just understanding and supporting, your goal as a Gulf Coast entrepreneur is to lead your staff in bringing the brand promise to life. Either they will or they won't. Your branding program will live or die with this reality.

Run Silent, Run Deep

Internal branding is especially critical with personal services and business-to-business organizations because client relationships tend to be deeper and have considerably more touch points. The relationships are more personal. Additionally, with the relatively smaller size of west coast staffs, there is a particular opportunity to reach out internally.

Here's the internal brand minute: Understand that your brand statement is a "promise" to the world of your consistent behavior, goals and perception delineating who you are, whom you wish to be and how you intend to function. It's that simple. Don't complicate it. And, don't confuse it with a strategy or mission statement.

Getting people on board starts with aiming and recruiting the right people in the first place.

If you have done your job and invested quality time and effort, you will have painted a detailed picture of how employees are supposed to behave. Then, it becomes much easier to aim for recruiting employees capable of fitting in perfectly. They'll more quickly understand your corporate uniqueness and path you want your Gulf Coast enterprise to travel.

Next, if you have created an action-inducing brand strategy to realize your brand promise, the final trick is to blend your brand personality and company values with your corporate culture. Think about that one: The stars must be aligned just right in your corporate galaxy.

Can we agree that the chief executive and senior management in any organization must be the brand champions? If staff sees Mr. Big paying only lip service to brand initiatives, you can expect they'll have limp lips too.

Consider starting a tradition of encouraging staff - at all levels - to tell brand related stories at staff meetings. Post on intranet sites. Feature in the printed newsletter. Detail the relevance of the brand focused behavior. This kind of forum could easily be liked to modest cash awards, fine dining certificates or special award programs, using brand symbology.

Look for your own internal agents of change. These are the personalities that will not only buy into your concept but will help you communicate it through their positive actions. And like you, they will believe it and they will live it. These are the loyal staffers who are respected by others in their departments and can influence behavior by word and deed.

When these people gain extra insight through in-depth training, just think of the resulting positive influence they will spread internally.

Don't loose your momentum. Periodically inject new excitement into your program. Budget now for fresh activities and events each year. Take frequent assessment of staff branding attitudes and related actions.

Companies that successfully accomplish this model are the ones every one wants to work for. Morale is higher. Turnover is lower. Employees are more productive because they more fully understand what is expected of them. Equally important is the direction on how they can best accomplish their tasks.

Corporate branding for your Gulf Coast enterprise begins at home. So before you launch your newly budgeted program to your external targets, make certain your internal ones are fully engaged.

Remember, branding only hurts when you're cattle!

Lou Lasday, an independent marketing adviser residing on Longboat Key, creates action-oriented strategic marketing initiatives for Gulf Coast emerging companies. A career direct response executive; he has been a general partner of a major national marketing communications firm and regional president of the American Marketing Association. He can be reached at [email protected].